Pink Floyd's 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' Named Best Song by Fans and Band Members
Pink Floyd's 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' Named Best Song by Fans and Band Members
DeAnna JanesThu, March 19, 2026 at 4:01 AM UTC
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(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives on Getty Images)
Picking a favorite Pink Floyd song is like trying to find light on the dark side of the moon. It's impossible.
Lucky for us, Uncut, a monthly music magazine based in London, took on the task, and earlier this month, they let fans online know their definitive choice.
For the feature, the publication recruited the band’s lead guitarist, David Gilmour; original founding member and drummer, Nick Mason; and a group of “famous fans” including Ice Cube, Robert Wyatt, and Paul Weller.
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From a catalog encompassing hundreds of tracks, the outlet narrowed down their best-of Pink Floyd list to 30songs, and at the top? “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”
A nine-part composition from the band’s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here, the song is 13 minutes cut down from 26 of hypnotic and dreamlike progressive rock that drifts, builds, then explodes. Lyrics from Roger Waters and Gilmour don’t start until about eight and a half minutes in.
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“Pink Floyd were world-famous, rich beyond their dreams, and under pressure. Waters revisited the theme of mental illness (which had been central to Dark Side…), but this time rooted it in the real-life disintegration of Syd Barrett,” the outlet shares. “Unfolding over 13 carefully measured minutes, the song’s mood is one of equipoise before the onslaught -- and while Waters rarely allowed sentimentality to creep into the Floyd, it’s clearly appropriate on ‘Shine On…,’ and is judged perfectly.”
A Tribute to Syd Barrett
Written by Gilmour, Waters, and keyboardist Richard Wright, the song is a tribute to founding member and former frontman Syd Barrett, whose tragic departure from the band in 1968 was due to deteriorating mental health. Barrett died years later, in July 2006, at age 60 following complications related to pancreatic cancer, The New York Times reported.
Gilmour agrees with the top song choice, saying, “It’s great that this is No. 1, as it’s the purest Floyd song, the peak of that particular stage in our development." He added, “Roger would always disappear for a few days to write lyrics and he came up with this tribute to Syd. They’re beautiful words and it’s a heartfelt tribute that speaks for us all.”
The complete version of the song is about 26 minutes long, and was split in two so it would fit on one side of their LP. And it was a hit, topping the Billboard 200 in October 1975.
Best Rock Bands of All Time
“The composition’s majesty shimmers with every synth twinkle and guitar echo, and the alternately despairing and chuckling lyrics ('You reached for the secret too soon / You cried for the moon') seem to conjure Barrett’s madcap spirit, even as the production displays a fundamental pristineness his chaos would never have allowed,” Billboard writes about the masterwork.
Billboard also ranked Pink Floyd in the top five of their “50 Best Rock Bands” roundup, citing their 15 studio albums released between 1967 and 2014, namely Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Pink Floyd were beaten only by Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles.
Related: 1975 Classic Was a No. 1 Hit 50 Years Ago But Its Writer Despised It
This story was originally published by Parade on Mar 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
